Hermione?
by LindaMadsen
Summary: A walk in the forest is often times a good thing, but is it this time?
1. The beginning

"Hermione my dear, we offer contraceptive potions to all witches just turned 17 in this castle, even the teachers get it!"  
  
"And for the last time, I don't want or need it at all. and I don't intend to need it either!"  
  
Hermione Granger was in for her yearly check up on her seventeenth birthday, and the conversation she was having with the resident medi-witch was absolutely ridiculous. Instead of prolonging her stay with unnecessary arguing she chose to make her excuses and get out of there as fast as possible.  
  
"I really have to go now madam Pomfrey, the boys have probably thrown me a party and I wouldn't want to be late."  
  
Poppy Pomfrey, knowing that a battle was lost, gave up and went into her office to write down the details of Hermione's check up in her medical journal.  
Hermione almost ran through the halls on her way back to Gryffindor tower, that she didn't notice headmaster Dumbledore before it was too late.  
"I am so sorry Professor, I didn't see you there"  
  
"All is forgiven my dear, old as I am, I can still remember the excitement of my eighteenth birthday. Knowing that I was considered an adult and all that"  
  
Hermione laughed at the mistake.  
  
"I'm only turning seventeen sir"  
  
The ever-present twinkle in the headmaster's eye increased 3 fold.  
  
"I must be mistaken dear, then it couldn't have been you that as a third- year spent a whole year using a timeturner. I must be going now, happy birthday"  
Hermione was stunned, was she really turning eighteen? Totally numb, she forgot to say goodbye to the headmaster, and even forgot where she was going. Aimlessly wandering around the castle, lead her to the main doors and without realising that she wasn't dressed for it, and that it was passed curfew, she left.  
  
It was dark and cold, when next she was aware of herself. Somewhere in the middle of the forbidden forest she had found a lake and was currently sitting under a willow tree, watching the soft ripples on the surface. Instead of disturbing the calm darkness with a lumos, she let her eyes slowly adapt to it.  
  
Getting a feel of the surrounding landscape, she saw that there was a lot of undergrowth around the lake; the only clear spot seemed to be were she was sitting. After having a closer look she clearly recognised a lot of plants that could be used as potion ingredients, some of them were very rare and she absently wondered if this was were professor Snape got his more unusual plants.  
  
Looking up at the sky, she saw nothing but the tree tops, the weak wind swaying them in a macabre dance to obscure the sky, making it impossible to tell if it was a full moon. Realising that she had no way of telling if it was indeed a full moon, she started looking to see if it was possible to find her way back. All she saw was undisturbed shrubbery and grass, it was as if she had just appeared in the spot she was sitting, there were no footprints in the sand around her. Absolutely nothing gave away her presence to the inhabitance of the forest.  
  
Suddenly she heard rustling in the deeper part of the forest, afraid of an animal attack she crept back towards the tree trunk, marvelling as the indentations in the sand where she had been sitting disappeared and the branches of the willow lowered to hide her existence and blurred the view of the clearing from her. Looking around her wooden sanctuary a small patch glowing rose-like flowers caught her eye, a gentle pull started and she barely stopped herself from sniffing at the blooms, recognising them at the last second as Angels Breath *.  
  
The rustling increased and a creature entered the clearing, stealthily moving, the creature suddenly stopped. Hermione not being able to see through the branches leaned forward and made a small hole in the armour of her sanctuary to see what was happening. In the clearing a group of creatures had assembled in a loose circle and looked to be waiting for something.  
  
As if turning a switch all warmth in the clearing dissipated, Hermione shivered missing the warmth that she hadn't known was there until it was gone. The creatures all bowed down in respectful terror, in the centre of the circle a creature stood tall in cold superiority. It was then she realised that the creatures were human. The man in the circle dropped his hood and all in the clearing gasped in wonder. Unruly black hair rustled against pale almost glowing skin, and ice blue eyes regarded the group with a coldness that froze the soul. Hermione had never seen anything so beautiful, and indeed the man in the clearing was a thing and not human, for he had no soul and no remorse.  
  
"My loyal followers, I have called you too this place to share your news and tell me of the world around us. This was my plan, I have changed it to tell you of a new possible ally, for my most trusted spy to recruit"  
  
As the creature spoke with such a soft voice that even the wind in the trees stilled, afraid to miss what was being said, he conjured an image of a girl with bushy brown hair and hazel eyes.  
  
"As you all look at this girl, all you see is a mudblood in her seventh year at Hogwarts, you have all assumed that my interest in her is because of her friendship with Harry Potter, you are wrong.  
  
Over a century ago an elven princess was borne between an elven prince and a pureblooded witch, believing that such a child was a disgrace to both worlds from which it came, the mother and child were outcast. Their magical ability was bound and their memory erased, they lived out their lives as mere muggles.  
  
The halfblooded princess didn't age at the speed of humans, not even wizards. As a result she had her first and only child seventeen years ago and here she is.  
  
As all wizards and elvenkin know, elven blood cancels out all non-magical blood. When the princess was with child, she was in essence creating a perfect replica of herself.  
  
When she turns eighteen, her powers will blossom, and I want her as an ally before that."  
  
The creature, she now recognised as lord Voldemort, looked as if he was about to continue by receiving reports from his inner-circle, but thought better of it.  
  
"I must leave you now, we will assemble again when I see fit."  
  
He observed his followers for a split second before vanishing into thin air. His followers seemed confused, looking at each other for confirmation before disappearing one by one.  
  
Hermione breathed a sigh of relief when the last death eater had gone, and made to leave the glade. She slowly stood up wondering about what had been said, not noticing that the willow tree seemed to grow taller with her, and took a step forward before everything went black.  
The dark figure stood frozen between the trees when a movement by the lake in the other end of the clearing caught his eye, he had almost missed it, mulling over the news he had gained this evening, but still had enough of his wits about him to stun what he was sure would be a creature out to make a meal of a lone human.  
  
Practical as always, he moved to see if he could harvest any potion components from the stunned creature, stopping in his tracks and cursing colourfully when he saw that it was not a beast as he had thought, but a girl.  
  
He moved to her side to see if he could identify her and send her back wherever she had come from with a powerful memory-charm on top, he noted that as he was approaching, the willow tree underneath which she was resting seemed to bend down towards her in a protective manner. He kneeled beside her and hesitated before brushing aside the long wavy hair.  
  
Resting in the silver glow of an Angels Breath, lay the closest thing to an angel he had ever seen, a tall slender girl, with pale flimsy hands and long dark curly hair, only part of her face was visible; small dark lips stood out against a pale delicate chin. On closer inspection he found that she was wearing a robe with the Hogwarts crest and that could only mean that she was a student, but he had never noticed such a beauty, and he sincerely doubted that any of the brats he was teaching could have changed into this vision of a seraph lying before him.  
  
He considered simply levitating her back to the school, content in never knowing whom the girl was. But practicality once again won out, and he knew it would be too dangerous to levitate her when not all of the obstacles were visible before nearly walking into them. Still intent on not letting himself start an infatuation, he stared stiffly in front of him while bending down and picking her up, not looking at her at all on the way back to the school.  
  
He stiffly walked into the infirmary, placed her on a bed and drew the curtains before laying down across the room and gulping down a vial of dreamless sleep. She would be long gone before he woke up the next morning. 


	2. Parentage

Hermione awoke slowly, to the sterile smell of the hospital wing. Try as she might, she couldn't quite remember how she had gotten there, scattered sensations of warmth and safety muddled her brain, and it took her a while to actually remember the glade and the meeting.  
She tenderly sat up, how had she gotten so sore? It felt as if she had been run over by a flock of wild horses. She had barely gotten upright before madam Pomfrey was at her side.  
"Well, good morning dear. Let me just check you before you go"  
"But madam Pomfrey, how did I get here? And why?"  
"Well, I found you here early this morning under a severe stunning spell, just about the same time professor Snape came back from one of those 'meetings' and I thought I'd let you sleep in… stunning spells have a rather nasty effect on the body if not rested properly afterwards"  
Hermione and Harry had known about professor Snape since the end of their fourth year, when Harry had overheard a conversation between professors Dumbledore and Snape.  
"I was out walking, and suddenly everything went black, are you sure I didn't just bump my head?"  
"You know better than to second guess my judgement, that and professor Snape told me he had stunned you thinking you were an animal about to attack him, imagine his surprise when he finds one of Hogwarts brightest students out in the middle of the forbidden forest! Oh and the headmaster wants to see you when you are done here"  
Hermione lowered her head in shame and walked slowly out of the room, she had been found in the forbidden forest, by the most biased professor in the school no less! She was going to be expelled, so close to finishing her education, AND she had missed her birthday party. She was thoroughly miserable by the time she was outside the gargoyle and trying to guess the right password.   
"Jelly beans… Sour slugs… Sugar quill… lemon drop… candy apple…tenderheart toffee…"   
Giving up she looked closely at the gargoyle  
"Professor Dumbledore is expecting me"   
The gargoyle swung aside without a sound, letting her continue her death-march up into his office. As she entered the first thing she looked at was the phoenix, Fawkes was tidying his beautiful coat of what looked like extremely new feathers. Noticing her, the bird let out a trilling note, without a doubt trying to comfort her.  
"Miss Granger I assume"  
A muffled voice was heard behind a curtain that she supposed was hiding the door to the headmasters study.   
"Yes professor? Am I disturbing you?"  
"Of course not my dear, I wasn't expecting you so early on a Sunday morning"  
Hermione checked her watch and saw that it was still very early; breakfast hadn't even started yet.  
"I'm sorry sir, I can come back later"  
Headmaster Dumbledore chuckled as he came through the curtain still wearing his nightcap.  
"It's no trouble my dear, now have a seat so we can talk about these recent developments shall we?"  
"I am so sorry, I wasn't thinking and I don't even remember going into the forest, was as if I was talking to you and blinked and then suddenly was there, please don't expel me"  
"Why on earth would I expel you? I haven't had any complaints about you since you started here almost seven years ago! No my dear, I meant to talk to you about your parentage"  
"My parentage…-"  
Then it hit her; they had been talking about her in the clearing.  
"They were talking about me in that clearing, weren't they?"  
"Yes, now I must ask you to relive the evening… I think it best to use a pensieve so we get see all the details, professor Snape has already given me a detailed description up until early this morning when he left the infirmary. I admit that I was surprised that the meeting was about you almost as much as I was surprised at how he found you. Before we begin, I must stress that this is optional but that I think it would be best to have all sides of the gathering to hunt out details"  
Hermione felt her heart sink at the mention of mind magic; it was her one weakness; she was absolutely terrified of it.  
"Sir, can I just tell you instead? I'm not… comfortable with mind magic of any kind…"  
"I had expected this… very well, tell me as much as you remember"   
"Well I was just coming from a check up in the infirmary on my way to the common room where the boys had thrown me a birthdayparty, or at least I think they had. Then I ran into you, and you told me that I was turning 18 and not 17 as I had thought, the next thing I know I'm sitting underneath a willow tree watching the ripples on the surface of a small pond and listening to the wind. I heard something rustling in the undergrowth and thought it was a beast wanting an easy meal, so I crept back against the tree trunk and the branches lowered and hid me from view. When the noise got louder I got curious and looked out through the branches, I saw a gathering of people, well at first I didn't realise they were human because they were all kneeling, in the middle of their circle a man stood looking at them, that when I realised that they were human, when he pulled down his hood."  
Hermione hesitated a little, blushing at the thought of her finding lord Voldemort attractive.  
"He was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, he looked so cold, like he had no soul… He was pale with blue eyes and messy black hair; he looked to be about 20. In a way he was terrifying, there was no feeling in his eyes… and all the heat was sucked out of the clearing when he arrived… He looked around and then started telling about the halfblooded witch and said that it was a job for his most trusted spy to form an alliance with her before she turned 18… that's all I remember, when they left I got up to see if I could find my way back, and everything went black"  
Professor Dumbledore nodded lightly.  
"That was in essence what our good professor told me, well except for the description of Voldemort, but he hates him so deeply that he would probably look the same if he were prancing around in a clown suite to him"  
Hermione giggled despite herself, imagining lord Voldemort dancing around in a clown suite and making balloon animals.  
"That's right my dear, laughing is the first step to getting rid of the fear"  
"So I'm not a muggleborn, but a half-elf?"  
Hermione quickly changed topics, wanting to know but dreading the answer.  
"In a sense yes, but your parents are still your parents, your mother is still the one who gave birth to you and your father still helped raise you. So in spirit nothing has changed, and in a way everything has, you are now 18 and so your powers will start blossoming very soon, if they haven't already. You are physically a copy of your mother without the restrictions she is under, but you must remember that you are yourself and not your mother… you've had a different upbringing and a different personality and many different experiences, you are a different person than her."   
"But can't you lift the restrictions?"  
"It would be far too dangerous, she has no training and an untrained witch in her age is almost impossible to train correctly, especially such a powerful witch, she is too set in her ways"  
"Oh, I understand..."  
"The most important thing right now is to get you trained, until you graduate you will have advanced classes and training sessions, after that I'd suggest you get an apprenticeship here, so you can train and still study for whatever you want to be… I know you were hopping to go to the university in Wales, but an apprenticeship with any of the Hogwarts staff would give you the same qualifications as a university degree "   
"I don't think that I would be able to get an apprenticeship as what I want to become"  
"Well what would you like to become?"  
"A potions misstress" 


	3. Hermione gets her appretinceship

Hermione stood looking in the mirror in the prefect bathroom, she was having trouble making the Hermione Granger, Hogwarts prefect, and the Hermione Granger half elf merge into the same person. Weren't elves supposed to be beautiful? Hermione was tall, skinny and pale, her hands were too long and her hair was too curly and her eyes were too owlish. She looked like she had spent her life in a book and had just crawled out. In a way that was true, but she couldn't see how she would ever look like the elves she had read about, it had to be a mistake!  
  
Professor Dumbledore had promised to speak to professor Snape about the apprenticeship later that week, so she would soon have an idea as to how her future was turning out. Until she had her answer she was in the dark about what would happen to her, all she knew was that she was to have special training in powers she had felt nothing of, and was going to stay at Hogwarts in the upcoming summer.  
  
A knock on the door startled her out of her reverie. "Hermione, the rest of us would like a chance to use the bathroom too!" Hermione smiled at Ron's voice, he always interrupted her when she was sinking into melancholy or other such rubbish. "I'll be right out Ron!" She gathered her things, noting that her hips were too wide and her chest too small while she hurriedly pulled her hair into a messy bun and opened the door. "Well it's about time Granger! I'll be late for classes because of you" Ron teased, on an impulse she hugged him and kissed his cheek. "Ron it's Sunday!" she said smiling before leaving him standing there, she didn't notice the triumphant smile that appeared on his face.  
  
She headed to the library with a small smile on her face, Ron's teasing had cheered her up and she had a hard time not giggling at his antics. She was so absorbed in her thoughts of Ron that she didn't notice the person running her direction. With a yell she fell to the floor. "I'm so sorry, I was so wrapped up in my thoughts, I didn't look around" She apologized quickly. "Don't worry about it your highness, it was entirely my fault, it won't happen again. May I give you a hand?"  
  
As soon as Hermione heard the familiar voice she looked up and stared, Draco Malfoy stood looking humble and would not look at her. He stood with his head lowered and his eyes on the floor in an informal bow with a small smile gracing his lips. "Have you gone off your rocker? Why are you being nice to me?" Malfoy chuckled and took her hand gracefully pulling her to her feet and going into his informal bow again. "I assure you, your highness, I am in possession of all my mental facilities. I am being nice to you as it is only proper to treat royalty with respect" Hermione paled, how could he know so quickly? It had only happened last night! Her confusion quickly turned to anger, so HE was the one to try to turn her, she had been sure it would have been Snape. "Oh? So you call the last 6 years treating me with respect Malfoy? I would very much like to argue that point" To her satisfaction she saw him flush and his smile faded, then he hunched lower and kissed the fold of her robe grudgingly. "I sincerely apologize for my juvenile behaviour towards you, your highness. I will do anything to make up for my past mistakes" A menacing smile grew slowly on Hermione's face. "Oh really Ferret Boy? I doubt it, now leave me alone while I figure out a suitable punishment" Malfoy's smile quickly turned into a scowl. "Why you little mudblood!" "Look ferret boy, you just threw away any chance at getting on my good side. Too bad!" Hermione laughed and walked into the library mind set on finding as many books on the subject of elves as she could.  
  
******In another part of the castle******  
  
"Come in professor Dumbledore"  
  
Severus Snape was in an almost unheard of good mood, ever since he had seen the Seraph as he called her, he couldn't help smiling and humming to himself. Of course he refused to let anyone else see the considerable change from his usually dismal mood.  
  
"Ah hello Severus, I see you are in a good mood. That makes my errand much less frightening" The headmaster chuckled. "Get on with it Albus, I don't have all day and I'd rather not waste it on keeping company instead of my potion research" Severus did not have to pretend to scowl, the old man's all knowing mind- set was the most infuriating thing he had ever put up with. Professor Dumbledore sat down in a chair and smiled almost wickedly. "As you know we have a student with. special circumstances, she was quite shocked at finding out about her heritage, but is grudgingly accepting that she will have to stay at Hogwarts until she is fully trained. I have offered her an apprenticeship in whatever field she chooses to study, to keep her safe. She assured me that her chosen field would be impossible to study here, considering the master of that subject hates all Gryffindors." "She was quite right headmaster, I will not spend 4 years teaching that know it all brat about potions!" "Severus, she needs to stay here until she is trained, it is unsafe for her out in the world when she is untrained, especially now when Voldemort is after her" "So make her choose another field of study, or simply lock her in a room until Voldemort is defeated" "She still has free will, I will not force her to do anything, and you and I both know that she could be the grain of rice that tips the scale in our favour, we can not loose her to the dark when she can be the one person that can help Harry kill Voldemort" "So you seriously want me to give that gryffindor know it all most of my free time so she can be a potions mistress?" "Not all of it, she also need defence against the dark arts and combat training as well as medic training, so you'll be able to cover several subjects if you want. I would ask other of the teachers to help but you're the only one with such extensive knowledge of all of the subjects. I had also considered getting a new potions teacher to take your classes while you take on this project, you will of course get a whole level of the castle for training and living quarters while the training is done, furthermore when she is done training I think it a good idea to turn that level into a training camp for the light side, making the both of you instructors. though that is still only in consideration" Severus sat stunned at the sheer size of the project before him. "I assume I have little choice in the matter Albus"  
  
*************  
  
Hermione was sitting in the library with large piles of books around her like a fort. She had looked through most of the library, which in it self was quite a task before finding the bookcases that held books on her chosen topic. She had finally found about 10 books on the subject, but most of them were rather biased saying that elves were dangerous creatures and needed to be killed.  
  
After a lot of leafing through the different books, she found a small green book entitled "Elves the rulers of magic" that seemed to be neutral, or at least not full of elf abhorrence. She read most of it quickly, it was a rather thin book, but stopped at the more interesting chapters to read in depth.  
  
Elves; how to know them from humans  
  
It's quite simple how to spot an elf among humans, you don't. The elves do not lower them selves to mingle with humans, and with good reason, they once walked freely on the earth, but were subject to fear and hate because of their superior grasp of the very make up of magic. When the great race-war between the wizards and the elves broke out, the elves almost eradicated the very existence of wizards and pulled back from the open and into the magic realms, feeling that they had taught the humans a lesson and not wanting further confrontations. The elves have always been a peace loving people, only fighting when needed and otherwise spending their lives on the arts and knowledge. Elves don't use wands using their thoughts to do even the most difficult spells; their will power alone is enough. The appearance of the elves doesn't differ much from humans as such, but in general they are taller than most, have very long hair and sparkling eyes, they also are more intelligent and can master the basics of magic without trying. Elves have a love of learning that is extremely rare among humans. Dying of a broken heart is possible for an elf, when an elf bonds with a mate it is for life, if the elf is left or widowed she/he will usually die within a year. 


End file.
